Taylor Goller ’16 and Karl Kristiansen eat dinner with the Luboga family during their global health elective in Uganda. Pictured are Dr. Luboga and his wife, Christine, as well as his nieces, Nice and Narissa, and Eunice Fu, a second-year medical student from the University of Connecticut. (Photo courtesy of Majid Sadigh, M.D.)

The latest program in the Global Health series sponsored by the University of Vermont College of Medicine and Danbury Hospital/Western Connecticut Health Network (WCHN) took place in the College's Medical Education Center on Monday, December 9, with a presentation from a professor at Uganda’s Makerere University College of Health Sciences who serves as a mentor and host to visiting medical students.

Luboga is an associate professor and deputy dean of education for the faculty of medicine at Makerere University College of Health Sciences in Kampala, Uganda. With his wife, Christine, he hosts UVM College of Medicine students who complete a global health elective at the Uganda Cancer Institute. Students stay at the Luboga home in the village of Mpererwe Namere. Taylor Goller and Karl Kristiansen, both members of the class of 2016 who visited Uganda over the summer, shared during a previous global health night that staying with the Luboga family was an invaluable part of the experience.

The Uganda Cancer Institute is one of several sites that are part of the new global health program. To ensure opportunities for medical students interested in studying abroad, Sadigh has worked with the UVM College of Medicine to formalize the application process and create partnerships with sites, which in addition to the Uganda Cancer Institute in Kampala, include Kazan State Medical University in Kazan, Russia; College of Health Sciences in Harare, Zimbabwe; and Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

The Global Health Series: A Mission Towards Change programis held monthly throughout the academic year. Students, residents and faculty from the UVM College of Medicine, UVM College of Nursing and Health Sciences, and Fletcher Allen Health Care are invited to attend the sessions, which include refreshments.

For more information about these events, contact Audree Frey in the UVM College of Medicine Office of Medical Student Education.